One of the most popular visitor destinations at Natural History in 2011 was RACE: Are We So Different? This temporary, traveling exhibition is a project of the American Anthropological Association, developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota. We spoke with some of our volunteers about their experience working with visitors in the exhibition.

Volunteers found that the wide range of topics covered in RACE: Are We So Different? made it easy to start conversations with visitors. Although much of the content focuses on the evolution of race in the history and society of the United States, the RACE: Are We So Different? exhibition is grounded in the science of human variation. For visitors and volunteers alike, this was a useful entry point. For example, Cassie Ghee met many who were very happy with the focus on science. “Most said that it was about time this information was made public to a wider audience,” because it rooted the discussion in a very profound way.

More broadly, Meg Wilder described the exhibition as “a new lens for viewing our common history and experiences,” one that moved many visitors. She noted that many conversations that she had with visitors were surprisingly intimate: “The exhibition led us beyond our unconscious biases and our initial assumptions.” David Marshall concurred, although he wasn’t surprised, for he believes that “there are many people of all backgrounds who want to discuss issues concerning race. While most of us discuss these issues in comfortable and safe environments, with friends and family, there are those who crave the opportunity to go beyond those conversations.” This opportunity crossed many lines, Lisa Walsh saw, and “every visitor took away a new piece of information or precious moment of learning.”

For many visitors, Natural History provided an ideal space for discussion. Jane Hammel was certain that the Smithsonian’s choice to host RACE spoke volumes to visitors. “Many wished it would remain here in some capacity, as do I,” she said. The two comments that Patricia McNally heard most frequently were “Why don’t we have more exhibits like this?” and “This exhibit is so important to starting a conversation about race.” She saw that people were excited by the richness and depth of the information in the exhibition, and many people spent more time in the exhibition than they anticipated. “The RACE exhibition has the potential of being the new ‘Galileo moment’ of our times,” thinks E. David Garcia, who wrote about his experiences for this blog in August. “It has the power to create a fundamental shift in our perception of how we see the world” and the people with whom we share it.

Visitors study Kip Fulbeck’s “Hapa Project,” one of the most popular parts of RACE: Are We So Different? Image courtesy of Charles Chen, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

The potential for that fundamental shift lies in the exhibition’s capacity to enable and inform learning and discussion. Silas Otieno equates the exhibition with this outcome: “The RACE exhibition means conversation, the ability to bring people together in a neutral and conducive environment and just lay bare our thoughts and ideas on the issue of race.” To Enid J. LaGesse, “the RACE exhibition means we can more clearly understand and reframe our story as a united people, discuss openly our pain and healing, and dream of new solutions to age-old problems.”

If there was one feeling that all our volunteers shared, it was the sense that RACE: Are We So Different? tells a coherent and timely story in a way that opened a place for everyone to participate. “Everyone’s story is valid and worth being told,” said David Marshall. “If only we had the time and space to hear more of our stories, we might be able to better wrap our arms around the very complex notion of race.” Greg Jenkins found it “healthy, frustrating, bewildering, enlightening, learning, unbelievable, true, thought-provoking, heart-string pulling, angering, anxious, and necessary to our collective hearts and souls.” He paused for breath, and then continued: “It’s an American community story.” It is, finally, a story to which Natural History has been pleased to contribute.

We thank all our volunteers for their hard work and generosity in 2011. Over thirty of them plan to continue volunteering at Natural History and elsewhere in the Smithsonian. We’re very happy that they’ve decided to stay with us, and look forward to the many ways in which they will carry the energy and experience of RACE: Are We So Different? forward.

02/03/2012

Volunteer Lisa Walsh talks with a visitor about a popular interactive station. Credit: Charles Chen, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, image courtesy of Reginald Galloway, Princeton Club of Washington.

In 2011, RACE: Are We So Different? was one of the most popular visitor destinations at Natural History. This temporary traveling exhibition is a project of the American Anthropological Association, and was developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota. Several months before it opened, NMNH launched a campaign to recruit a new corps of volunteers to work in it.

When RACE opened on June 18, we had a diverse, motivated, and highly-trained group of seventy-five, ready to act as partners and sounding boards for visitors. Their role was to facilitate visitors’ experience of RACE, helping them to find entry points into the many conversations about science, history, and culture that the exhibition enabled.

For many of the seventy-five, this was their first experience volunteering in a museum. Over the nearly seven months that followed, the volunteers worked and talked with nearly 20,000 visitors––just a fraction, in fact, of the many from around the United States and the world who viewed the exhibition.

Now that RACE has left the Museum for its next destination (COSI in Columbus, Ohio), we asked our volunteers to reflect on their experience. What did it mean to them to serve as volunteers for this exhibition? How did it affect our visitors? And what is the larger meaning and significance of RACE: Are We So Different?

Programming coordinator David D. LaCroix and volunteer David Marshall (rear, dark jackets) discuss the RACE exhibition with a group of visitors, image courtesy of Reginald Galloway, Princeton Club of Washington.

Many, like Ginger Morrison, felt that their experience had enhanced their ability to talk about race and other charged topics. “The exhibition,” Morrison said, “presented a new vocabulary that I use to talk about race. It also encouraged me to more openly initiate discussions about race outside of the exhibit itself.” Other volunteers found new understanding of the ways in which race, privilege, and difference were relevant to their lives. “I think more about the roots of our social and geographical divisions,” said Lina Khan, “and the psychological impact from events that happened in the past.” Still others, including Patricia McNally and Greg Jenkins, saw the exhibition as an opportunity to learn or learn more about the role played by perception in the creation and sustaining of stereotypes and assumptions about race.

The opportunity to speak with visitors from all walks of life was very meaningful to our volunteers. It was challenging, immediate, and fruitful: “It has allowed me to feel the impact of race on people, instead of just hearing or reading about it,” Darius Salimi explained. “Being able to interact with all kinds of people about the topic in a dedicated space was a needed release of thoughts, emotions and energy for me.” “The exhibit itself and the people I have met made me realize how great of an impact a single word can have on one’s life,” said Lizzie Ehrreich.

In the next part of this two-part posting, learn more about how our volunteers felt about the science in the exhibition, how many visitors reacted, and what volunteers feel the RACE exhibition means.

08/02/2011

E. David Garcia, volunteer for the RACE: Are We So Different? Exhibition. Image courtesy of C. Chen, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

When I heard that the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History would host RACE: Are We So Different? in 2011, I was excited at the opportunity to participate. Like the other volunteers recruited for this temporary exhibition, my role is that of a facilitator. I engage and encourage visitors as they wrestle with what many consider profoundly divisive and emotional topics: the relationship of race and racism to science, history, and personal experience.

This role was very appealing to me for two reasons. First, it departs from the traditional approach to learning, where knowledge is transferred from an expert to the student. Facilitation is a matter of encouraging learners to take the responsibility of learning on themselves. Second, I relished the opportunity to engage in a complex, public conversation that would enrich our understanding of how and why race is so deeply embedded in our culture and in our consciousness. Although I approach my work at the Museum as an informed but objective partner to visitors, I am no exception to the conversation. I face the same challenge as anyone: approaching each conversation as a neutral observer despite the preconceived notions and assumptions shaped by our life experiences.

Talking about humanity's African origins with young visitors to the exhibition. Image courtesy of C. Chen, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

As the son of a diplomat, I spent my formative years abroad, experiencing the rich cultural diversity of the Americas. But it wasn’t until I embarked on an international management career out of college that I began to really understand how race affected my life. My first assignment in Mexico gave me a deep appreciation for my Latino heritage. Ironically, in Mexico I was often told I was not Latino enough because of my years in the U.S. When my career took me to Jamaica, I was often considered there a “white mon,” a contrast to when I lived in the United States where at times I was not “white” enough. These changes in my status seem almost humorous because it would differ with every new country assignment. But the certainty with which people placed those labels is a troubling symptom of deeper problems. I’ve since been trying to do my part in helping to dismantle the race barriers that exist within our communities.

Now that I live in the DC area, I find RACE: Are We So Different? an excellent venue to have a safe and elevated conversation on race. The most successful interactions I have had with visitors occurred when I was able to build rapport in simple but powerful ways: to genuinely listen, to empathize and show compassion, to accept others’ experiences, and to speak only with the aim of enabling more conversation. Through this approach, we create a welcoming learning environment in the exhibition where visitors can encounter the exhibition’s messages about race and test them against their personal experience. This often results in Ah-ha! moments of clarity and insight.

And so if we humans are to solve the many global challenges facing us, a good place to start is to remove barriers that have historically divided us. Our world is more interconnected now than at any time in human history. So a promising global future may well rest on our current ability to value all our human cultural richness, while learning from our past in tandem with our present knowledge. I think RACE: Are We So Different? is a positive step forward.